NOV.9,2016 OUR GROUP 23 OF MORNING HOTSHOTS

Most of us have met persons whom we thought extremely homely until we knew them better. Then we ceased observing their lack of facial beauty and began to appreciate those persons for what they really were.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were what might be called extremely homely men, yet the beauty and strength of their characters was such that practically all present-day pictures show little of their ugliness.

You can’t do a whole lot to improve an ugly face, but you can hide it behind a lovely character.

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DAILY REFLECTIONS NOV.9,2016

STEPPING INTO THE SUNLIGHT

But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our step out into the sun.

— AS BILL SEES IT, p. 10

Sometimes I think I don’t have time for prayer and meditation, forgetting that I always found the time to drink. It is possible to make time for anything I want to do if I want it badly enough. When I start the routine of prayer and meditation, it’s a good idea to plan to devote a small amount of time to it. I read a page from our Fellowship’s books in the morning, and say “Thank You, God,” when I go to bed at night. As prayer becomes a habit, I will increase the time spent on it, without even noticing the foray it makes into my busy day. If I have trouble praying, I just repeat the Lord’s Prayer because it really covers everything. Then I think of what I can be grateful for and say a word of thanks.

I don’t need to shut myself in a closet to pray. It can be done even in a room full of people. I just remove myself mentally for an instant. As the practice of prayer continues, I will find I don’t need words, for God can, and does, hear my thoughts through silence.
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Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE

“Happiness exists when the inner man rules outer things, while

unhappiness exists when the outer rules the inner.”

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If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any

kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.

— Alcoholics Anonymous, page 33

Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use

Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good

Men an Abomination.

— Benjamin Franklin

For all these we offer praise to You:

For the ability to see.

For the power to stand up under our burdens.

For the orderly universe in which we live.

— Sacred Space

Bondage lies in our own superstitions.

Joel Goldsmith

The process of clear thinking, if carried out every day, will heal.

The science of mind to page 204

Affirmation:

I am continuously supported. All my needs are abundantly met.

Be silent. Meaning is lost when there are too many words.

Rumi

Lesson 312

I see all things as I would have them be.

Perception follows judgment. Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon. For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have. It is impossible to overlook what we would see, and fail to see what we have chosen to behold. How surely, therefore, must the real world come to greet the holy sight of anyone who takes the Holy Spirit’s purpose as his goal for seeing. And he cannot fail to look upon what Christ would have him see, and share Christ’s Love for what he looks upon.

I have no purpose for today except to look upon a liberated world, set free from all the judgments I have made. Father, this is Your Will for me today, and therefore it must be my goal as well.

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Refuse to carry the burden of mental and moral

weaknesses acquired in past years;

burn them in the fires of your present divine

resolutions and right activities.

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes—

or it prospers; and anon,

Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face Lighting a little Hour or two—is gone.”